FBI paid less than $1M to unlock iPhone of San Bernardino shooters

The FBI paid under $1million for the technique used to unlock the iPhone used by oneof the San Bernardino shooters - a figure smaller than the $1.3million the agency's chief initially indicated the hack cost,several U.S. government sources said on Thursday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation will be able to use thetechnique to unlock other iPhone 5C models running iOS 9thespecifications of the shooter's phone without additionalpayment to the contractor who provided it, these people added.

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FBI Director James Comey last week said the agency paid moreto get into the iPhone than he will make in the remaining sevenyears and four months he has in his job, suggesting the hackcost over $1.3 million, based on his annual salary.

The Justice Department unlocked the iPhone in March with thehelp of the contractor after Apple Inc refused to
bypass the device's encryption features on grounds it couldundermine security for all users.

The FBI, not the contractor, has physical possession of themechanism used to open the phone but does not know details ofhow it works, one of the sources said.

The identity of the contractor is so closely-held inside theFBI that not even Comey knows who it is, one of the sourcessaid.

The FBI is still examining the contents of the iPhone in thehope they will help fill gaps in their investigation of the
shooting last December which killed 14 people and wounded 22,two U.S. government sources.

Investigators are looking into whether shooters Syed RizwanFarook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, had associates or
co-conspirators, the sources said.

The FBI are also trying to understand what the shooters weredoing during an 18 minute gap in a timeline investigators haveput together tracking their movements on the day of theshootings, the sources said.

An FBI spokesman had no comment.

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